GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Global warming and climate change is not a problem of region or area but it is a global problem. As we know the manner in which the concentration of greenhouse gases is enhancing in the atmosphere, is very harmful to the sustenance of life on this unstable earth.
The world countries are confronting the severe impediments of global warming and climate change that are the most crucial atmospheric phenomena observed in the entire transformation and the race for economic development was enormous, during the last centuries. As a result of this, the concentration of the greenhouse gases increased in the atmosphere, as it is well-known that the atmosphere is made of various gases, dust particles and water vapour. Among the gases, nitrogen and oxygen, which contain about 99% of the total atmospheric gases, are the most abundant and important gases for the sustenance life on the Earth. The other gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carbon-monoxide and chlorofluorocarbon. These gases are called greenhouse gases. Following the invasion of science and technology in most of the sectors of development, these greenhouse gases are increasing at an alarming rate. As a result of this, the temperature is increasing in the atmosphere, on the one hand, and the percentage of oxygen gas is receding, on the other. Owing to the burning of fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal, and forest fire, the carbon-dioxide gas is increasing consequently. Furthermore, following the industrialization, carbon dioxide gas has increased by about 25% in the atmosphere. It is estimated that during the next 50 years, the level of oceanic water would be raised around 2-3 meters and most of the coastal regions would be half submerged. The Antarctica continent, which is covered by snow, is melting and if the process continued during the coming period, the rise of oceanic water would be alarming. A survey report by British Antarctica reveals that around 2.5°C temperature increased in the coastal region of Antarctica. The ozone layer, the life-protecting layer, is being depleted. As a result of the entire phenomenon occurring in the atmosphere, severe climate changes are observed in terms of extremity in the seasons along with its variability from one geographical location to the other. The summers are being extremely hot, winters are being observed severely cold, floods are extreme and droughts are also extreme.
Global warming is processed by which the average temperature of the atmosphere, oceans and landmasses of Earth is increasing. It is a burning issue of the present 4 41 eras of globalization and it gives a sense of increasing temperature over the surface of the Earth and in the atmosphere. Still, we don’t have any standard yard to measure the rate of warming but there are several symptoms, such as climate change, which are indicating the rise in temperature.
The earth planet has warmed and cooled many times during the 4.56 billion years of its history. At present, it appears to be facing rapid warming, which most scientists believe results, at least in part. from human-induced developmental activities. The basic cause of global warming is thought to be the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas, which, releases carbon dioxide and other substances into the atmosphere and known as greenhouse gases. As these gases increase in the atmosphere, it becomes a better insulator, retaining more of the heat provided to the plant by the sun.
 As early as 1896, scientists suggested that burning fossil fuels might change the composition of the atmosphere and that an increase in global average temperature might result. The first part of this hypothesis was confirmed in 1957 when researchers working in the global research program called the International Geophysical Year sampled the atmosphere from the top of the Hawaiian Volcano Mauna Lao. Their instruments indicated that carbon dioxide concentration was indeed increasing. Since then, the composition of the atmosphere has been carefully tracked. The data collected show undeniably that the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are increasing.
Scientists have long suspected that the global climate, the long-term average pattern of temperature, was also growing warmer, but they unable to provide conclusive proof Temperature vary widely all the time and from place to place. It takes many years of climate observations to establish a trend.
 Greenhouse gas concentrations are increasing near the Earth’s surface; consequently, the temperature is rising. But does the gas increase necessarily cause warming, and will these two phenomena continue to occur together? In 1988 the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization established a panel of 200 leading scientists to consider the evidence. The panel concluded that global air temperature had increased 0.6° Celsius degrees since 1861. Some notable points are—The global mean surface temperature has increased by a substantial margin of 0.6 C since the pre-industrial times; The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been significantly increasing, at a rate between 0.25 and 5.0 per cent per annum; The global temperature has risen in the past two decades faster than in any other 20 years period; Night time temperature over-land was generally increased more than daytime temperature; 1990 to 1999 persistent warm phase of The El Nina/ Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was unusual in the context of the past 120 years; The frequency, as well as the intensity of extreme weather events, have become more variable; There has been a marked troposphere depletion of ozone gases and increase in near the Earth’s surface; Recent years have been the warmest since 1860 period of instrumental records; Temperature is likely to rise by about 2°-4°Cin winter and 1 °-2° C in summer by 2030. However, there will be large interregional variations and some regions may witness cooling trends; The diurnal range of temperature has increased; There is a likelihood of short duration monsoon with more intensive rainfall: The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events have an increasing trend.
 The major causes of global ‘warming and consequently climate change are El-Nino process. Due to it, severe droughts were observed, particularly in the South Asian Countries in 1987, burning of fossils fuels (in 1992-93) winters, the carbon contains were found in the snow in Himalayan regions after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the burning of oil wells industrialization, depletion of forests (Northern coniferous forest, which is extended in northern Canada, Alaska and Siberia, depleting at a large scale due to human interference and similarly, tropical forests of Equatorial region, particularly of Brazil are being cut rigorously by the government and these forest-lands are transforming into agricultural land. There is a hole on the ozone layer about 11 million sq. km as the area of Europe Continent, in between Oceania Continent and Antarctica.
Increasing human population is the prime concern of the environmentalists because due to this factor, the environment is deteriorating at a large scale. For fulfilling the daily need of human being and increasing development activities, the human population is utterly dependent on natural resources.
 Urbanization and increasing population are giving a way to convert agricultural land into a settlement. This trend can be seen everywhere mostly near the towns and cities. Many of the countries of the world, where earlier vast agricultural land appeared have now converted into industrial areas, urban areas and residential areas etc. To search out and additional agricultural land for a livelihood, mass cutting of forestland coloured. As a result of this, the present impediment of global warming and climate change can be seen everywhere.
 Tropical rain forests of the world are depleting due to the mass cutting of these forests. A report by the FAO reveals that the tropical rain forests are being cut at the area of 15.4 million ha because forestland is converting into agricultural land. The converting into agricultural land. The mass cutting of the forests is taking place due to population growth and increasing need for timber for industrial and another development purpose. Presently, the total land cover under forests in India is 20.6% while in Brazil, it is 57%, in Russia 45% and in America and Canada, it is 3%. The per capita forest land in India is 0.2 ha whereas in Russia it is 3.5, in America 1.8 and in Sweden it is 4 ha.
When we see the forest map of India, we find the area under forest cover differs from 2.8% in Delhi State to 86.90 in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The following table reveals the per cent of forest area in different states of India. Depletion in forest cover has severe implication on climate and global warming. According to the researchers, the impact of forest depletion also falls on wildlife. A report depicts that due to the dense forest, temperature recedes about I 0°C during the summers and 10-20% rainfall increases dut of the forest during rainy seasons.
There are two major approaches to slowing the build-up of greenhouse gases. The first is to keep carob dioxide out of the atmosphere by storing the gas or its carbon component somewhere else, a strategy called carob sequestration. The second major approach is to reduce the production of greenhouse gases.
The developed are all working to reduce greenhouse emissions. Several European countries impose heavy taxes on energy usage, designed partly to curb such emissions. Norway taxes industries according to the amount of carbon dioxide they emit. In the Netherlands, government and industry have negotiated agreements aimed at increasing energy efficiency, promoting alternative energy sources and cutting down greenhouse gas output.
 International co-operation is required for the successful reduction of greenhouse gases. In 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 150 countries pledged to confront the problem of greenhouse gases and agreed to meet again to translate these good intentions into a binding treaty.
In 1997 in Japan, 160 nations drafted a much stronger agreement known as the Kyoto Protocol. This treaty, which has not yet been implemented, calls for the 38 industrialized countries that now release the greenest house gases to cut their emissions to levels 5 per cent below those of 1990. This reduction is to be achieved not later than in 2012.
